Gaiaphage
The Gaiaphage is a mass of green glowing crystals which lives in the mineshaft where Hermit Jim worked. It first appears in Gone and has the coyotes as its servants. It is known to be able to penetrate the minds of those who encounter it never leave them. Theories of the creation of the Darkness are extremely different but Astrid thinks that it came from the old meteorite that came and crashed into the nuclear power plant years before the events of the series. It is hinted that it was created by (or is a member of) a race of life-worshiping aliens. It feeds on hard radiation, and was behind the nuclear meltdown that sparked the creation of the FAYZ. The Gaiaphage is believed to be able to influence certain characters who have interacted with it. It is explained in the books that it gets its hooks into the minds of its victims who enter the mine and come into its presence. The Darkness, or Gaiaphage, which means earth-eater (a reference to its supposed viral nature), is made out entirely of glowing green microscopic crystals in the form that Lana made. Otherwise, it is thought to have no solid shape or form. It has psychological hooks in Lana, Drake, Caine andPete "Little Pete" EllisonLittle Pete, and tries to manipulate them into serving it. Computer Jack makes a reference to the word "phage" which is a computer virus or "worm". The "Gaia" part comes from the Greek Titan of "Earth". The Gaiaphage is said to be a collection of many radiating green crystals, suggesting the shape of a sphere. It is hinted that the fanged monster that appears when a person "poofs" is the Gaiaphage, based on dialogue between it and Caine at the end of Gone, and that it assimilates the powers and intellegence of the people it devours. This is confirmed in Lies. Gone In Gone, the Gaiaphage manipulates a pack of mutant coyotes , directing them to capture Lana Arwen Lazar after it discovers her healing Power, and uses her to give Drake Merwin his whip-hand after Sam used his Power to burn off his arm. Hunger It was thought to be destroyed by Duck Zhang at the end of Hunger ''when he used his Power to drag it to the bottom of the FAYZ bubble. Lies The Darkness returns in ''Lies, having survived Duck's attack and used Little Pete's Power to create a female avatar, Nerezza. It used Lana's healing powers and Brittney's regeneration ability to bring Drake back from the dead, although it was partially unsuccessful as Drake and Brittney share control of the body. Nerezza manipulates Orsay into believing that she could see visions of the world outside the FAYZ and the other children into thinking that the Big One-Five (the unexplained disappearance when one reaches the age of 15) would be an escape from the FAYZ. Nerezza also persuaded Zil to start a riot at the end of the book. Plague In Plague, the gaiaphage is shown to be still alive, residing in a cave at the bottom of the FAYZ sphere after being crushed through the ground of the mineshaft by Duck at the end of Hunger. Drake approaches the Darkness here after escaping from imprisonment, but changes into Brittney upon encountering it; the Darkness then persuades Brittney into believing that it is God. This way, it has the allegiance of both Drake and Brittney, who it tries to use to destroy Sam and ultimately eradicate every human in the FAYZ - so that it can 'break free' from the FAYZ, which is described as an egg that the gaiaphage grows inside, and be 'born' into the outside world; but in order to do this, it needs to assimilate the power of the person who created the egg: Little Pete, or, as the Gaiaphage says, Nemesis. The gaiaphage attempts to eradicate the humans by setting the mutant roaches on them and retrieve Little Pete with Drake/Brittney, but when Little Pete makes the roaches and himself vanish, Drake/Brittney appear to retreat. Also, after the gaiaphage's 'Nemesis', Little Pete, loses his bodily form at the end of Plague, the gaiaphage is shown as more hesitant in contacting the child's now bodiless, yet even more powerful (having lost his autism along with his damaged body and brain), mind. Fear In "Fear", the Darkness is discovered to essentially be the barrier. When it started to turn black, that was a sign of the Darkness' weakness. Lana, Drake, Caine and others in contact with the Darkness can feel how desperate it is to be reborn. It later achieves this by taking control of Diana's baby, Gaia Ladris. At the end of the novel, Gaia, Penny, Drake and Diana travel through Perdido Beach and are challenged by Caine and Sam in the Battle of the Highway. The two of them fail to defeat Gaia, but the barrier becomes transparent following this and Gaia, Diana and Drake flee. The Gaiaphage is extremely powerful and remains a huge threat to the FAYZ universe. Category:FAYZ Category:Gaiaphage side Category:Antagonist Category:Main characters Category:The Power